- US jobless claims fall to 209,000
Source: Quartz
“Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits fell last week to their lowest level in months, offering another sign that layoffs remain muted despite a range of economic pressures. Thursday’s Labor Department report showed 209,000 new applications for the week ending May 16, a decline of 3,000 from the previous week. The result came in below the 213,000 that FactSet-surveyed analysts had expected. At 202,500, the four-week average — which irons out week-to-week swings — marked its lowest reading since 2024, Bloomberg noted, representing a 1,500-point drop. Continuing claims, covering the week ending May 9, climbed to 1.78 million, an increase of 6,000.” (05/21/26)
- Retired police officer jailed over Charlie Kirk post settles lawsuit for more than $800k
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Tennessee man who was jailed for more than month following his arrest over a Facebook post related to the killing of Charlie Kirk has settled an ‘unlawful incarceration’ lawsuit for $835,000 (£621,000). Larry Bushart, a retired police officer, spent 37 days behind bars before authorities dropped the felony charges against him, during which he lost his post-retirement job and missed the birth of his grandchild. He was arrested last September by the Perry County Sheriff’s Office for sharing a meme in a thread about a vigil honouring the conservative activist. ‘I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,’ Bushart said in a statement announcing the settlement on Wednesday. ‘The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy,’ his statement went on to say. ‘I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family.'” (05/21/26)
- UK: In bid to ease cost of living squeeze, cheaper chocolate & tickets to the zoo offered
Source: SFGate
“The British government is offering cheaper chocolate and discounted entry to theme parks as it seeks to ease a cost-of-living squeeze and win back voters. Treasury chief Rachel Reeves on Thursday announced modest handouts to help alleviate rising costs sparked by the Iran war, including a reduction in import tax on cookies, chocolate and about 100 other supermarket products. U.K. inflation fell to 2.8% in April, down from 3.3% in March, but is expected to spike again on the back of higher prices for fuel, heating gas and electricity. To ease the impact, the government has postponed a planned increase in fuel duty and given truckers a yearlong reprieve from road tax to help offset soaring gasoline prices due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transit route. But Reeves did not commit to broader support for household heating bills.” (05/21/26)
- Turkey: Court removes head of main opposition party
Source: ABC News
“A Turkish court on Thursday issued a ruling that effectively removed the head of the country’s main opposition party by annulling a 2023 congress that elected him. The move deals a serious blow to the beleaguered Republican People’s Party, or CHP, as it struggles under waves of legal cases targeting its members and elected officials. An appeals court in Turkey’s capital Ankara declared the CHP congress that picked Ozgur Ozel as chairman to be null, ordering that he should be replaced by his predecessor Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Last year, a lower court ruled against claims of irregularities and misconduct surrounding Ozel’s election but Thursday’s decision overturned the original verdict.” (05/21/26)
- MN: “Quality Learing Center” raked in $215k federal payout; senator demands receipts
Source: New York Post
“Fraudsters behind the notorious ‘Quality Learing Center’ day care facility in Minnesota raked in nearly a quarter of a million dollars worth of pandemic-era loans from the Small Business Administration, according to a senator’s investigation. That day care center, which had a misspelled name and a near-empty parking lot when YouTuber Nick Shirley stopped by for his viral video last year, became the poster child of the fraud scandal that rocked Minnesota. The facility, which shuttered in January, had garnered some $1.9 million from Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program last year and some $10 million in state funding since 2019. But a probe by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) found that it had also received federal assistance from the Small Business Administration back in April and May 2020 during the first Trump administration.” (05/21/26)
- Only a Fool or a Politician Would Cap Food Prices
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Andrew Lilico“It sounds so simple. If consumers are suffering because prices are going up, then forbid that. Who could object, beyond greedy firms profiteering by pushing prices up? … If the government caps the prices of supermarket products, that will make those products unprofitable for the supermarket to stock and also mean that consumers have to pay less for them than their economic value, the consequence being that they will sell out and not be available. Why would I, as a consumer, want key products to be unavailable in supermarkets?” (05/21/26)
https://fee.org/articles/only-a-fool-or-a-politician-would-cap-food-prices/
- Trump’s Approval Rating Is Cratering. Tariffs Are a Big Reason Why.
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy“Donald Trump is now an unpopular president. Some of this dissatisfaction is due to the war in Iran. Some of it springs from the unanticipated speed, chaos, and perceived brutality of several of his administration’s actions over the past year and a half. But a significant part of his political problem has a straightforward economic explanation: Everything feels expensive, and his tariffs are a major reason why. If the president wants to help himself and his party ahead of this year’s midterm elections, the most effective thing he can do is eliminate the tariffs. The evidence in favor of this move is overwhelming, and it comes from his own tenure.” (05/21/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/21/trumps-approval-rating-is-cratering-tariffs-are-a-big-reason-why/
- Charge Obama? Great Idea, But Unlikely
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“I’d love to see Barack Obama charged with, tried for, and convicted of crimes that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt he’s guilty of. For example: Obama ordered the murders of at least two American citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki and his son, Abdulrahman Anwar al-Awlaki (Donald Trump later ordered the murder of eight-year-old Nawar Anwar al-Awlaki, also a US citizen). Obama also illegally took the US to war in Libya, never even seeking the constitutionally required declaration of war. For those crimes, and many others, I’d very much like to see Obama face legal consequences. But there’s a problem with the idea …” (05/21/26)
- The Boring Trump-Xi Summit: Boring Is Good
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter“Critics of the May 2026 summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping, president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), widely condemned the outcome as being long on pomp and ceremony but short on meaningful substantive results. They noted that most of the agreements reached, especially on trade and other economic issues, were either preliminary or relatively minor. There was a virtual consensus among the opinion-shaping elites that Trump had secured no major concessions on either his commercial or his security objectives. In other words, the outcome of the summit was rather bland and boring. That criticism may be true, but in international affairs boring is usually good.” (05/21/26)
- Controlled Commerce: The March of a New Global Economic Order
Source: The Daily Economy
by Stefan Bartl“Washington, Beijing, and Brussels are all moving toward state-managed commerce and geopolitical trade blocs. The recent US-China summit accelerates the shift.” (05/21/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/controlled-commerce-the-march-of-a-new-global-economic-order/
- The vital voice of Congress in launching war
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Americans are contending with almost daily shifts in how the Trump administration characterizes the war-slash-ceasefire with Iran that began Feb. 28. Yet just as important to this current Middle East struggle is a series of resolutions proposed in Congress to either end the conflict or seek approval by lawmakers to continue it. On Tuesday – in its eighth such vote since strikes against Iran began – the Senate advanced a measure to debate a requirement of the 1973 War Powers Resolution that a president obtain congressional approval within 60 days of starting a conflict. The House is expected to vote shortly on a similar measure for the fourth time.” [editor’s note: None of these resolutions are necessary — absent a declaration of war, the war is illegal, full stop – TLK] (05/20/26)
- Price Inflation Accelerates as Wars and Deficits Expand
Source: Cobden Centre
by Ryan McMaken“Fears over price inflation returned in a big way this week as bond yields rose in the wake of recent government reports on consumer and producer prices. The US-Israel war on Iran continues to take a toll on global supply chains, and related price hikes appear to be partly driving growth in long term yields for both US, British, and Japanese debt. This week’s CPI and PPI reports both showed price inflation surging to multi-year highs, and not just on oil prices. This, combined with new increases in oil prices, appears to have spooked investors who are now, in the face of rising prices, are demanding higher yields for long-term debt.” (05/21/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/05/price-inflation-accelerates-as-wars-and-deficits-expand/
- 2026 Libertarian National Convention Voting Guide
Source: Waste No More Time
by Nicholas Sarwark“The Libertarian Party is holding a national convention in Grand Rapids, these are priorities for delegates who want to reconstruct the party to be effective moving forward.” (05/21/26)
https://nsarwark.substack.com/p/a-delegates-guide-to-the-2026-libertarian
- The Omnipotent Power to Kill
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that no person shall be deprived of life without due process of law. Like all the other amendments to the Constitution, the Fifth Amendment operates as an express higher-law restriction that the people of the United States have placed on federal officials. The idea is that federal officials are expected to obey our higher law just as they expect us to obey their lower laws. … No more. Today, it is undisputed that the president, the military, and the CIA wield the omnipotent power to deprive people of life (i.e., kill them), without due process of law. In other words, federal officials are no longer complying with the Fifth Amendment restriction on their power.” (05/22/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/05/21/the-omnipotent-power-to-kill/
- They’re Not Mad At Ben-Gvir For Being Evil, They’re Mad At Him For Being Honest
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Western and Israeli officials are currently wagging their fingers in faux outrage at Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for publicly boasting about the mistreatment of flotilla activists attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. Ben-Gvir’s Twitter account shared a video of the minister taunting activists who were abducted by Israeli forces in international waters earlier this week, captioning it ‘This is how we accept the supporters of terrorism’ in Hebrew and ‘Welcome to Israel’ in English. The video shows flotilla activists from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand being shoved, held in stress positions on the ground, and mocked by Ben-Gvir while restrained. This all of course pales in comparison to the abuses endured by Palestinian captives on a daily basis, but it’s the subject of international outcry today because the victims are from the west.” (05/21/26)
- Ahmadinejad Leading Iran? Color Me Skeptical
Source: Persuasion
by Saeid Golkar“Of all the names that could appear in a Western-backed plan for postwar Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be the strangest. The former president was once known for Holocaust denial, anti-Israel speeches, claims that gay people don’t exist in Iran, support for his country’s nuclear program, and the violent repression of domestic dissent. Yet according to a new report in The New York Times, the United States and Israel considered him as a possible political leader after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei …. The story sounds too crazy to be true. But if it is true, it shows just how little the Trump administration understands the way power works in the Islamic Republic.” (05/21/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/trump-and-netanyahu-wanted-this-man
- The Rise of the Meme Disease
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Steven Kritz“Beginning about 25 years ago, shortly after ending my rural primary care practice as a Board Certified Internist, I began to recognize that from the 1960s through the end of the 20th century, there were a series of illnesses that I initially referred to as ‘fad’ diseases. Given that each of these diseases were in vogue for at least a decade (a bit too long to be a fad), and in an attempt to be more ‘woke,’ I now refer to these conditions as ‘meme’ diseases.” (05/21/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-rise-of-the-meme-disease/
- Hunter Biden benefiting from Trump’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund” would be a slap in the face
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine“It’s not just crackpot antisemite podcaster Candace Owens who is giving Hunter Biden uncritical attention so he can rewrite history. Inexplicably, top Trump administration officials are also validating the former crackhead first son’s outrageous lie that he was prosecuted only because he was Joe Biden’s son. It’s not clear why Acting AG Todd Blanche and VP JD Vance cited Hunter this week as their exemplar of bipartisan largesse to defend the new $1.7 billion ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ for victims of lawfare, but it was a terrible idea. It’s so terrible, you could be forgiven for wondering if it was dreamed up by deep-staters intent on denying justice to the real victims of the Biden administration’s lawfare.” [editor’s note: Wow, what a day — Miranda Devine, like Derek Hunter, got something right! But the whole “weaponization fund” idea is stupid and evil, regardless of whether Biden fils gets a cut – TLK] (05/20/26)
- Does It Matter Who Wins the AI Race?
Source: Gideon’s Substack
by Noah Millman“[T]he American frontier A.I. companies aren’t betting everything on A.G.I. even if it looks like they are. The value of dominating A.I. and getting your models embedded everywhere is enormous even if they are just a ‘normal’ revolutionary technology. The winner doesn’t necessarily take all, but it can take a lot. They aren’t betting everything on A.G.I.—but America might be, in the sense that, if we focus exclusively on giving these companies what they want, their wins might not translate readily into American “wins” in the economic and geopolitical contest with China.” (05/21/26)
https://gideons.substack.com/p/does-it-matter-who-wins-the-ai-race
- Reform Romps Again
Source: Law & Liberty
by James Allan“Nigel Farage’s party is eating everyone else’s electoral lunch. What does it mean for the future of Britain?” (05/21/26)
- Obama’s strong terms curbed Iran. Trump struggles to secure even a weak deal
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jackie Calmes“The president, along with his Republican cheerleaders, counts his first-term abrogation of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as a signature achievement. This week, yet again, he falsely claimed that had he not done so, Iran would have a nuclear weapon. In fact, his action in 2018 taking the United States out of the multinational deal subsequently led to Iran’s rebuilding of its nuclear program, the emboldening of the Iranian hard-liners now in power and the Middle East morass in which the United States is now mired. That quagmire has left Trump seeming desperate for a deal — almost certainly a worse deal than the one Obama struck.” (05/21/26)
- When Trump Targets the Media, the World’s Autocrats Are Taking Notes
Source: Common Dreams
by Scott Griffen“Only a day after President Donald Trump spoke of unity following a gunman’s abhorrent attempt to kill him and members of his administration at the White House Correspondents’ dinner, the president quickly returned to his regularly scheduled programming of berating members of the press that ask him unwanted questions. In a ’60 Minutes’ interview with CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell taped and aired the day following the assassination attempt, Trump repeated many of his now-tired insults about the press, referring to the media in general as ‘horrible people’, and calling O’Donnell a ‘disgrace’ who should be ‘ashamed’ of herself for raising excerpts of the alleged gunman’s manifesto in a question to the president. At this point, understandably, many of us have simply begun to tune out Trump’s now-frequent diatribes against the press.” (05/21/26)
- Power and Market, 05/21/26
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
“Ryan, Connor, and Tho discuss the results of the most expensive Congressional race in American history. What does the defeat of Thomas Massie tell us? What does this mean for libertarian strategy? Should we blackpill?” (05/21/26)
https://mises.org/podcasts/power-and-market/post-massie-america
- Advisory Opinions, 05/21/26
Source: The Dispatch
“All the Things Wrong with Trump’s Billion-Dollar Fund.” (05/21/26)
- Cato Podcast, 05/21/26
Source: Cato Institute
“Out to Lunch: California’s $20 Fast-Food Wage.” (05/21/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/out-lunch-californias-20-fast-food-wage
- The Briefing Podcast with Michael Waldman, 05/21/26
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
“Hyperpartisanship and the Attack on Voting Rights (with Julian E. Zelizer).” (05/21/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 05/21/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Desperate For A Win, Trump Indicts Cuba’s Raul Castro.” (05/21/26)
https://rumble.com/v7a6mgg-desperate-for-a-win-trump-indicts-cubas-raul-castro.html